As health systems migrate to the cloud, digital sovereignty—the idea that a nation or individual should have control over their own digital data—has become a central pillar of public health policy. Without sovereignty, sensitive health information may be stored on servers in foreign jurisdictions with weaker privacy laws.
- Data Residency: Countries are increasingly mandating that health data must be stored within national borders to ensure compliance with local privacy regulations like GDPR.
- Protection Against Commercialization: Digital sovereignty prevents large tech corporations from using public health data for profit without explicit consent or public benefit.
- Security Infrastructure: By building “national health clouds,” governments can create a unified defense against international ransomware attacks that target medical records.